Description: Many of us feel called to respond to the ecological destruction of our planet, yet we feel overwhelmed, immobilized, and unable to deal realistically with the threats to life on Earth. Noted spiritual and environmental thinkers Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown contend that this crippling response to world crisis is a psychological defense mechanism that has been endemic since the years of the Cold War arms race, when we had to adapt within a single generation to the horrific possibility of nuclear holocaust.

Since its publication in 1983, Joanna Macy's book, 'Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age' has sold nearly 30,000 copies and has been the primary resource for groups of men and women confronting the challenging realities of our time without succumbing to paralysis or panic. 'Coming Back to Life' provides a much needed update and expansion of this pioneering work. At the interface between spiritual breakthrough and social action, 'Coming Back to Life' is eloquent and compelling as well as being an inspiring and practical guide. The first third of the book discusses with extraordinary insight the angst of our era, and the pain, fear, guilt and inaction it has engendered; it then points forward to the way out of apathy, to "the work that reconnects". The rest of the book offers both personal counsel and easy-to-use methods for working with groups in a number of ways to profoundly affect peoples' outlook and ability to act in the world.

Joanna Macy has developed an international following over the course of 40 years as an author, speaker and workshop leader on Buddhist philosophy and systems theory. She is the author of eight previous books, including 'World as Lover, World as Self'; 'Thinking Like a Mountain'; and 'Widening Circles'. She lives in Berkeley, CA.

Molly Brown has been a trainer, workshop leader and consultant for many years. The author of three previous books on spirituality and healing the environment, including 'Growing Whole: Self-Realization on an Endangered Planet', she teaches at the Graduate School of Holistic Studies at John F. Kennedy University and is based in the San Francisco Bay area.

Matthew Fox was a member of the Dominican Order for 34 years. He holds a doctorate in the History and Theology of Spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris. Fox started the University of Creation Spirituality, and was its president for nine years. He is currently a scholar in residence with the Academy for the Love of Learning. He lectures, teaches, and writes and serves as president of the nonprofit he created in 1984, Friends of Creation Spirituality. He is the author of 28 books and lives in Oakland, California.

Review(s): Joanna Macy is one of those rare voices in our time who is a prophet speaking out on behalf of the poor and those without a voice, the young, the dispossessed, the ecologically threatened. But she does not stop there. She also passes on this prophetic voice to others, she draws it out, she coaxes us not to be afraid and not to be in denial. She encourages us - that is, she builds our courage up - to find our prophetic voice and to contribute as teams and as communities to the healing work our times and pain require. - from the Foreword, by Matthew Fox, University of Creation Spirituality

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